A Life of Crime
by hiddenheart519
Summary: *Criminal AU* There was nothing special about that Thursday night, nothing at all to mark it different from the last three nights he had done this, but it was a night Lie Ren would never forget. This is the story of how normal Lie Ren met the incredible Nora Valkyrie, and how she would change his life forever.
The woods were pitch black, illuminated briefly by the cars headlights. The moon was barely a sliver in the sky, glowing against the broken cloud cover. In parts of the dark sky stars could be seen, shining stubbornly through the spaces between the gray clouds. There was nothing special about that Thursday night, nothing at all to mark it different from the last three nights he had done this, but it was a night Lie Ren would never forget.

The green light on the radio read that it was nearly midnight, blatantly stating that Ren was behind schedule. He should be closer to his home by now, but his job had run longer than usual. He worked odd jobs-anything to keep food on his table and tea in his cup-and that night he spent his time on a farm between the town and the woods where Ren's small home stood. Ren worked often with the man who owned the farm, Jaune Arc. Jaune's wife, Pyrrha, told Ren nearly every night he left their house late that he was more than welcome to stay the night in the guest bedroom, but he always turned her down. He preferred the silence of his home to the noise-filled Arc house, with the five-year-old twin girls, the large golden retriever, and the other various animals residing in the Arc yard.

Ren shook his head, blinking sleep from his heavy eyes. He needed to stay awake. He couldn't let fatigue claim him. He was almost at the boulders that were the three-quarter mark on the road from town to his house. He could make it, and then he'd brew a pot of tea, heat up yesterday's leftovers, and then and only then would he succumb to sleep's tempting offer. Ah, sleep... to be in his own bed again, warm and full... No! Ren's head jerked up sharply, his hands clenching on the steering wheel. After he was sure he wasn't going to doze off, he relaxed his death grip, guiding his truck along the elaborate turns in the dirt road with ease that didn't all come from practice. Ren was a natural when it came to driving, and he had taken to the task immediately once he began learning at fourteen.

The headlights illuminated the trees as he turned, and something bright appeared in Ren's vision, reflecting the light of the truck. It was a license plate, and in seconds the car it belonged to came into light. It was a small silver Prius, pulled off to the side of the road and looking more like it belonged in the heart of the city instead of the middle of the woods. Ren slowed down, making sure he wasn't going to hit anyone close to the road. As he pulled closer, he saw that the front end was completely crumpled in, having crashed into a tree. Next to the car stood a woman, her eyes wide and hopeful, her arm extended and her thumb in the air.

Ren's common sense screamed at him to look away and just drive on by. He had always been firmly against picking up hitchhikers, since you never knew if they were trustworthy or not.

But it was the dead of night, and she had crashed. She wasn't walking along the road looking like she hadn't had a bath in who knew how long. She didn't look all that threatening.

So ignoring his own protests, he slowed down. The woman's face lit up in relief. Ren pulled to a stop, rolling down the passenger side window. "Need a ride, ma'am?"

The woman let out a breath, smiling. "Thank god. I've been out here for an hour and no one's gone by."

Ren unlocked the door, and she opened it, sliding in. She had short dark Brown hair that looked dyed and fell above her shoulders and turquoise eyes. She wore a loose pink sweatshirt, blue skinny jeans, and white and pink boots. A necklace hung around her neck, the pendant a blood-red ruby surrounded by smaller diamonds on a silver chain. Something about the necklace seemed familiar, but Ren couldn't place it. Everything about the woman screamed _City Girl_ to Ren, but he wasn't one to talk-he may often work on a farm, but he always wore his best. Reminiscent of his Chinese ancestry, he dressed in a dark green, diagonally-buttoned, long-sleeved tailcoat that was red on the inside with black and gold trimming and pink cuffs. The trimming went down the right side of his torso and formed a black collar. His pants were white, a poor choice for farm work, but Jaune usually provided a change of clothes on the last minute days he asked Ren for a hand, and his boots were black. His hair was long and dark, loosely held back with a white band and his eyes were a bright, peculiar shade of magenta.

The woman closed the door behind her, smiling at the man who had so kindly offered her a ride.

"You don't need anything out of your car?" Ren asked her.

"Nope," she replied, buckling the seat belt. "I keep everything I need on me."

"Did you call anyone to tell them you crashed?" Ren asked, starting to drive again.

"No, my phone's busted. And everyone I know's up in Mistral," she explained. "So thanks, handsome. You're a life saver," she told him, grinning.

Ren's face flushed faintly. "You're welcome."

"What's your name?" she asked conversationally.

"Ren," he replied.

"I'm Eleanor," she said.

Ren nodded once. After a moment of silence he asked, "Where am I taking you?"

The question seemed to catch Eleanor off guard. "Oh. Um... well town's back that way, and my house is out of state, so..." she looked at him apologetically.

Ren stifled a sigh. More driving when he could be sleeping. "I'm dead tired, ma'am. Perhaps you could stay the night in my guest room, and then I could drive you into town in the morning?"

Eleanor smiled. "That'd be great. I just proved driving when you're tired is a really stupid thing to do."

"Is that how you crashed?"

"Yeah," she chuckled. "I dozed off, and when I opened my eyes, someone had put a tree in my way."

Ren watched the road intently, careful not to make the same mistake Eleanor had.

"May I?" Eleanor asked, looking at Ren with one hand hovering over the volume dial on the radio.

Ren looked at her. "Oh, go ahead."

Eleanor smiled. "Thanks." She turned up the volume, skimming through the stations before settling on one with a man talking.

"...is armed and dangerous. A silver Prius with Atlas plates and the licence number..."

As the reporter read of the number, Ren saw excitement light up Eleanor's turquoise eyes. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

" _...three cops are injured, one in critical condition. The woman is believed to be Samantha Freyja, the same woman who stole the last surviving copy of the Third Crusade from the Vacuoan Faunus Museum two months ago._ " Eleanor grinned, and apprehension pitted in Ren's stomach. " _If either Freyja or her car are seen_ ," the reporter continued, _"call authorities_ _immediately_ _. She is believed to be somewhere near-_ " Eleanor turned the radio off.

"What'd she steal this time?" Ren asked carefully, watching Eleanor.

Eleanor slid one hand into her sweatshirt pocket. "Not sure. I don't think the authorities have told the public yet."

Ren watched Eleanor cautiously, mentally comparing her to the picture of Freyja he had seen on the news. Eleanor's brown hair was shorter, but getting a haircut was easy. Her eyes weren't dark green, but contacts could have done the job. There was no scar on Eleanor's chin, but there were some really good makeup artists out there...

Eleanor caught his gaze, and Ren blinked before looking back to the road.

"How far away's your house?" Eleanor asked.

"A few miles," Ren replied, trying to inconspicuously slow his car. He knew some martial arts, and he might be able to restrain the woman long enough to get some answers. But what if she wasn't Samantha Freyja? What if she really was just some woman from Mistral who messed up and got stuck in Vale? He couldn't remember exactly, but he didn't _think_ her licence plate was from Atlas...

Eleanor pulled something out of her pocket and the movement caught his eye. His heart dropped and he almost slammed on the brakes as Eleanor said casually, "I wouldn't do that if I were you. I'd keep driving."

It was a gun, a black pistol, and it was aimed right at Ren.

Ren's heart was racing and he gulped, but he sped up.

"I'm turning the radio back on." As she did so, both the gun and her eyes never left Ren.

The reporter was still talking, saying that the cops had found Freyja's car crashed into a tree, but Freyja was nowhere to be found. The dogs hadn't found a trace of her in the woods, so they assumed she had gotten a new ride.

Eleanor grinned. She cursed in an amused voice that was far from afraid. If anything, she seemed to be anticipating conflict with authorities.

Ren cleared his throat. "Uh, i-isn't that a bad thing?"

"If you're a wuss," Eleanor replied, grinning at the driver. Leaning closer, she asked, "Are you a wuss, handsome?"

"No," Ren replied, his voice firm, not at all reflecting how terrified he was.

"Good," Eleanor replied, leaning back.

"So I'm assuming your name's not Eleanor?" Ren asked carefully.

"Nope."

"So is it Samantha?"

The woman laughed. "Maybe."

Ren's eyes narrowed.

Her drove down the dark road, the tires kicking up plumes of dust in their wake. He watched the road, glancing at the woman's gun every so often, searching for a lapse in her concentration, but finding none.

It wasn't long before the wail of sirens reached his ears.

His breathing hitched nervously as his grip on the steering wheel tightened.

For a long while, it was just sirens, growing gradually louder and louder. Sirens, his pounding heartbeat, and an occasional unsettling laugh from the strangely excited woman in the passenger seat, her gun never wavering.

"Here's how this is going to work," she said suddenly. "I'm going to give a direction, and you're going to listen. No hesitation, no questions."

Ren swallowed hard, flexing his hand, stiff from his overly-firm grip on the steering wheel.

"Well, you don't _have_ too," the woman pointed out, her voice as casual as if she were talking about the weather. A dangerous smile played on her lips. "But I'd rather not mess up your good looks, hm?"

Ren had to agree with her. Anyone looked better without a bullet in them.

Ren rounded the corner of the dirt road and nearly slammed on the breaks.

Cops. Cops everywhere. Lights flashing and sirens screaming. They had set up a road block, and lines of policemen stood behind it, their guns aimed at his truck.

"Stop the vehicle!" a man's voice yelled over a megaphone, but Ren didn't hear him. His heart was pounding in his chest like it was trying to escape this terrifying situation.

The woman to his right laughed wildly. Out the window, she whooped, "You wish! See ya later, Ironwood!" To Ren, she ordered, "Turn around!"

Ren was more than happy to oblige, the tires skidding on the dirt and rocks, kicking up a cloud in its wake between the old truck and the authorities. He could hear gunfire behind him, and the criminal in his passenger seat spun around, firing blindly through the slowly-settling dust while every instinct Ren had screamed at him to get away.

"Where do I go?" Ren asked, his ears ringing from the gunfire.

If the woman heard him, she made no sign of it, reloading her pistol with a wide grin on her face. Ren swerved around potholes, speeding down the twisting back road.

She laughed breathlessly, a wild insane light illuminating her eyes. Her hair had blown out of place, and it only enhanced the crazy-beautiful look she held.

Twists and turns, palms sweating and heart racing, tires screeching and the insistent wail of police sirens. He had never been so afraid in his quiet, steady life, with cops chasing him down and a breathtaking but possibly insane woman next to him, cheering and taunting the authorities. Adrenaline coursed through him, and a strange feeling washed over him, making him feel invincible. He may have been terrified, but he was filled with unexplained excitement.

A helicopter approached from the sky, shining its searchlight directly on the truck. Ren's hands slipped, and the truck swerved suddenly, nearly careening into the thick trees before he caught the steering wheel and saved them.

The woman whooped and leaned halfway out the window, firing up at the helicopter before ducking back inside, grinning broadly at him.

"Isn't this _fun_?"she asked, breathless with exhilaration.

He shot her a fearful, wide-eyed look. "No!" he practically shouted, shaking his head slightly, unable to understand why in the world she was treating their situation like a game.

The ginger laughed giddily. "Oh, yes it is," she told him before leaning back out the window. "Whoo hoo!" she cheered, firing up once more. "You'll never catch us alive!" she yelled, laughing loudly. She grinned back at Ren. "I've always wanted to say that," she confessed.

"Well, now you have. Can I stop now?"

She casually pointed the pistol at him once more, silently threatening him. "Sure," she told him cheerfully, "if you want to get arrested." Before he could protest, she perked up, leaning towards the dashboard. "Cut through there!" she said, pointing to a road ahead that looked like it hadn't been driven on in years. Ren almost ignored her, but the gun was incentive enough, and he didn't want to take his chances with her willingness to pull the trigger.

He turned sharply left, down the path that could scarcely be called a road. The trees blocked the light from the helicopter above them. The tires crunched over bushes, and his magenta eyes stared around him, watching for any obstacle.

"Right!" the ginger ordered when they reached the form.

Ren turned without hesitation. The road became rougher, the sirens fainter. The woman glanced around, then leaned out the window for a second, checking the sky for the helicopter through the thick tree branches.

"There'll be another fork up here somewhere. Go left, and at the turn after, go right," she told him without looking at him.

His gaze turned from the road to the nonchalant way she pointed her pistol at him. "Are you sure?"

The woman scoffed, smiling. "Of course I am. I know this place like the back of my hand." Her turquoise eyes looked at the hand that held the gun. Jokingly, she peered at it. "When did that get there?"

Ren pursed his lips, refusing to be amused, even when she flashed him her brilliant smile.

The woman pouted like a child. "Oh come on, that was funny."

"It was unoriginal," he countered, turning sharply left as soon as the road diverged.

"So?" she demanded. "It was still funny. You know you laughed."

"No I didnt," he replied.

"Yes you did," she said stubbornly. "Silently."

The harsh sound of sirens reached Ren's ears again, and the little but of calm he had regained faded away. Red and blue lights flared beyond the trees, and Ren squinted, turning abruptly right, back on the main road with nothing but cops to his left.

Ren groaned as the woman laughed, leaning around and firing at the cops.

"Duck!" the woman ordered, and Ren did so a moment before returning gunfire blew apart the back window of the truck, raining shattered glass down on the two of them.

Ren sat back up, his eyes wide and his breath shaky.

"You okay?" she asked him.

He nodded nervously.

"Good." Then she grimaced, turning and looking back at the broken window. "Ouch..." she said apologetically. "Sorry about that. Usually they can't hit me." Her bright, optimistic eyes turned towards him. "You must be an awful getaway driver."

Ren frowned. "I'm not a getaway driver."

She laughed. " _Obviously._ "

Ren rounded a corner and turned left on her orders.

Right into another line of cops.

Ren's magenta eyes widened. The woman swore, her gaze flashing from the cop cars to the man behind the wheel. " _Right_!" she cried suddenly, jerking him out of his fear. His hands turned the steering wheel abruptly, off into the woods, crashing through the brush and and making a path of his own.

"Now what?" he demanded.

"Just keep going!" the woman insisted.

"You had better know where we're going," he told her sharply, gripping the wheel tightly.

"I already told you. I've got these woods memorized," she reassured him. "We'll ditch the truck in a few minutes, get another car, and we'll be outta here."

Ren narrowed his eyes. "Ditch the truck?" he repeated. "But this is my truck!"

"And now cops will be looking for it. You really wanna hold onto it?" she asked.

"Maybe," he muttered without much conviction.

"Thats what I thought," she replied. "Keep driving."

Ren nodded, pursing his lips, deciding it was unwise to argue with a woman who had a gun pointed at you.

"Stop right there," the woman announced, pointing to what seemed to be an abandoned house.

Ren pulled to a stop by the house. The woman jumped out immediately, ordering him to do the same. "Drivers side, handsome."

Ren followed her to a much nicer flatbed truck than his own. Glancing once at the pistol aimed casually at him, he opened the unlocked door and slid into the drivers seat. The woman hopped in next to him. "Keys are in the ignition."

Ren turned the truck on, obeying her order to drive. The woman pointed out an old unused road, saying it would lead to a road that wild lead them directly to the city, and he drove.

They couldn't hear the sirens or see the lights any longer, but Ren could still see the hellicopter circling above the trees they had left behind.

"How did you get the car there?" he asked her after a long while.

"A criminals gotta be prepared," she replied cheerfully.

"Hm."

"Well." The woman grinned at him. "You're a criminal now."

Ren looked at her in confusion. "Or a hostage."

"Nope. Helping a criminal escape authorities makes _you_ a criminal too," she told him.

"Not if you're forced to," he pointed out.

"I'm not forcing you to do anything," she replied innocently.

Ren's gaze turned to the pistol. "You have me at gunpoint."

"So?" she retorted. "I never said I'd shoot."

Ren raised an eyebrow. "So I could pull over right now?" He asked without looking at her.

He heard a _click,_ and he inhaled sharply.

"You could."

"I see," he replied unhappily.

They drove on, the woman occasionally telling him to turn. They reached an unfamiliar part of town. "Where are we going anyways?" he asked.

"To a night club."

Ren looked at her. "Why?"

She grinned. "I know a guy."

Ren frowned. "Fine."

There was a long pause. "You gonna ask my name?"

"Well I'm sure it's not Samantha," Ren replied.

She laughed in agreement. "Or Eleanor." He didn't reply. "Well are you gonna ask or not?"

There was another silence, and Ren could feel her persistent gaze on him. He sighed. "What's your name?"

She smiled brightly. "Nora. Nora Valkyrie."

 **A/N: The first chapter of A Life Of Crime! And I'm actually pleased with it. So this AU is a bit different, since there's not Hunters or Grimm, but there is Dust (which will be explained fully later) and maybe Faunus. A lot of the characters will appear but most of them have no connection to each other.**

 **This whole story was inspired by the song _Siren_ s by Lee Brice, but I didn't like the ending to the song, so I wrote this instead.**

 **I've got bits of the story mapped out (mainly random dialogue) and I don't know when the next chapter will be finished. Hopefully by the end of the month.**

 **Thanks for reading guys, make sure to follow/fav and review, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!**

 **~hiddenheart**


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